Monat: August 2011

Revealed: Shocking cruelty at massive abattoir… but those responsible WON’T be prosecuted
By Sean Poulter

Last updated at 8:30 PM on 29th July 2011

Comments (690) Add to My Stories Share Appalling cruelty, including cigarettes being stubbed out on the faces of pigs, has been revealed in secret filming inside a slaughterhouse.

The footage of pigs being burned, punched and smacked across the head with sharp paddles was captured by animal welfare campaigners.

They reveal the shocking truth of the casual brutality inside one of the country’s biggest abattoirs.
Scroll down for video (Warning: Graphic content)

Beating: Abattoir staff are seen striking pigs with sharp paddles – even when the animals were severely injured. The secret filming took place at an Essex slaughterhouse run by Cheale Meats, where up to 6,000 pigs are killed every week
Despite the clear evidence, the Government, through the Food Standards Agency, has refused to prosecute those involved.
The decision has been condemned by Animal Aid, which carried out the secret filming. It says it is evidence that ministers are putting the commercial interests of the meat industry above welfare.
More…Eight million animals face death to test your toothpaste and washing-up liquid (… but don’t blame the manufacturers, it’s all down to Brussels meddling)

The secret filming took place at an Essex slaughterhouse run by Cheale Meats, where up to 6,000 pigs are slaughtered every week.
In 2001 the outbreak of a disastrous foot and mouth epidemic which swept through the country was first identified among 27 pigs sent to the plant from the north-east of England.

Brutal: The video opens with several incidents of staff stubbing out cigarettes on pigs‘ faces
Today, the firm’s website proclaims: ‘Be proud of higher welfare, buy British pork.’

The filming, which took place on secretly installed cameras over four days in March and April, suggests that animal welfare was the last thing on workers’ minds.

Staff were seen stubbing their cigarettes out on the faces of pigs on three occasions, while one of the men landed a punch on the face of a pig which was walking by.

Three seriously injured pigs were forced to crawl through the building to meet their death. Staff were seen pulling the animals by the ears, pushing and kicking them.
Before slaughter, pigs should be stunned using electrified tongs. The tongs should span their brains and render them immediately unconscious.
The filming showed that workers often failed to stun the animals correctly, leaving them screaming in pain. Others were pushed and prodded with electric rods.
Torment: Incorrect stunning, as shown here, leaves pigs in terrible pain
All of these are clear breaches of animal welfare laws. However, the food and farming ministry Defra believes it cannot prosecute based on undercover film footage.
Last year Defra had to drop a similar case against an abattoir in Torquay which had been caught out by Animal Aid footage, after its lawyers determined that there was ’not a realistic prospect of conviction‘ in a case reliant on hidden-camera video.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for investigating breaches of welfare and hygiene laws at slaughterhouses – however, Defra is responsible for prosecutions. In this case, the FSA has not even passed on the footage to Defra for a potential prosecution.

The FSA has written to Animal Aid stating: ‘Defra is not prepared to commence prosecution proceedings where the initial allegation is based on CCTV footage gained without the consent of the relevant Food Business Operator.‘
A Defra spokesman added: ‚It would be totally irresponsible to prosecute when we know we’d lose,‘ saying that there were ‚very strong legal grounds‘ not to prosecute hidden-camera cases.

This is rejected by Animal Aid, which points out that the legal principle that allows prosecutions based on secret filming has already been established.

Despite images like this, showing a pig bleeding to death as a worker looks on, the Government will not prosecute the abattoir
For example, prosecutions are being brought against workers at a care home who were secretly filmed by the BBC’s Panorama programme mistreating vulnerable residents.

Head of campaigns for Animal Aid, Kate Fowler, said: ‘Since we first began investigating English slaughterhouses, we have been pressing everyone involved – regulators, industry bodies and the Government – to act decisively to end the cruelty.

‘At first, they appeared contrite and promised action but now their words ring hollow.

‘If Defra won’t prosecute these flagrant breaches of the law; if the vets can’t or won’t act to stop the cruelties; and if the slaughterhouse owners look the other way, who is there to stop animals from being abused at the most vulnerable time of their lives?

‘It seems that all involved are content to keep quiet and to allow these cruelties to continue. So much for the UK having the best welfare standards in the world.’

Violent: Staff were filmed using force to move the pigs around the slaughterhouse
A spokesman said the footage at the slaughterhouse was obtained through trespass, while the Panorama filming was not.

He said: ‘Animal cruelty is unacceptable, and we vigorously pursue action against accusations of cruelty wherever we can.

‘It is wholly disingenuous to draw comparisons between this case and that of filming in a care home, because this video evidence was obtained unlawfully through trespass.

‘As the RSPCA has found in previous cases, this would get it thrown out of court and do absolutely nothing to help reduce the suffering of animals.’
The FSA said it has taken action to end the cruelty at the plant.

It revoked the licence of one slaughterman identified in the footage, while another slaughterman’s provisional licence had already expired and has not been renewed.

The organisation has also increased monitoring at the plant to avoid any repeat.

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Pig-fattening ritual should be abandoned: animal rights group
2011/08/10 18:45:42

Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) The decades-long practice of fattening pigs as part of a Taiwanese religious and cultural ceremony should be abandoned, an animal protection group said Wednesday.

The „God Pig“ contest — usually held during the annual Hakka Yimin Festival — must be abandoned, the Taipei-based Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) said ahead of this year’s festival that will begin next week.

As part of the popular festival in northern Taiwan, the competitor with the heaviest pig, a symbol of blessings, is awarded a prize.

In their efforts to produce pigs three times the normal weight, many people force-feed the animals, EAST CEO Chu Tseng-hung said at a news conference.

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Pig-fattening ritual should be abandoned: animal rights group
2011/08/10 18:45:42

Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) The decades-long practice of fattening pigs as part of a Taiwanese religious and cultural ceremony should be abandoned, an animal protection group said Wednesday.

The „God Pig“ contest — usually held during the annual Hakka Yimin Festival — must be abandoned, the Taipei-based Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) said ahead of this year’s festival that will begin next week.

As part of the popular festival in northern Taiwan, the competitor with the heaviest pig, a symbol of blessings, is awarded a prize.

In their efforts to produce pigs three times the normal weight, many people force-feed the animals, EAST CEO Chu Tseng-hung said at a news conference.

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Slaughterhouse workers: Dying for a job
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – PETAMay 29, 2008The „head table“ at the Quality Pork Processors slaughterhouse in Austin, Minnesota, is not a place of honor. Until recently, it was where workers cut up pigs´ heads and shot compressed air into their skulls, causing their brains to come tumbling out. At least 18 employees who worked the head table have developed a mysterious neurological illness as a result, with symptoms ranging from weakness and fatigue to acute paralysis.

In all, according to figures recently released by researchers, at least 24 slaughterhouse employees—possibly more—in Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska have the illness. All of the affected employees worked in a part of the plants that used compressed air to remove pigs´ brains. Researchers believe the air turned some brain matter into a fine mist that was inhaled by the workers; the plants have since discontinued the practice.

While these are isolated incidents—most slaughterhouses do not use this technique, and the condition is not thought to be transmittable—illnesses, injuries and even deaths at slaughterhouses are shockingly routine. What´s even more shocking? If you eat meat, you are funding the daily exploitation of these workers.

According to the Department of Labor, nearly one in three slaughterhouse workers suffers from illness or injury every year; in other manufacturing jobs, the rate is one in 10. Killing animals who do not want to die is inherently dangerous work. As chickens are hung by their legs to be killed, they fight back—beating their wings and scratching and pecking workers. Cows and pigs who are still conscious when they are hung up by their hind legs kick and thrash.

Workers on the killing floor are in constant contact with feces, vomit and diseased animals, so it´s no surprise that they often fall ill themselves. One study of slaughterhouse workers by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that half tested positive for campylobacter bacteria, which can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever.

A worker at a Smithfield slaughterhouse told Human Rights Watch that he had breathing difficulties at work and red rashes on his arms and hands: „I think I have an allergic reaction to hogs. But I´m afraid to say anything about this because I´m afraid they will fire me.“

One of the most serious hazards for slaughterhouse employees is the high line speed. Workers must hoist, kill or cut several animals each minute, usually with few breaks. Some aren´t even given time to relieve themselves during their shift. A Teamster investigator told The Nation magazine that during meetings with slaughterhouse workers, „People were crying, talking about being covered in diarrhea the entire shift because the supervisor wouldn´t let them go to the bathroom.“

When employees are forced to work covered in their own waste, you can imagine how the animals are treated. Improperly stunned hogs kick and scream as they are drowned in tanks of scalding-hot water, used to soften their skin. Cows struggle as the skin is ripped from their bodies. Chickens, who aren´t even included in the only federal law designed to protect animals killed for food, have their throats slit while they´re still conscious and are scalded to death in tanks of hot water by the millions.

Even if you aren´t sympathetic to the plight of workers or animals, consider this: The same uncaring system that allows workers to be exposed to a toxic mist of animals´ brains and animals to be scalded alive also allows carcasses contaminated with feces and vomit, tapeworms and abscesses, to be sent down the line. The meat industry is not going to change, but we can: It´s time to leave the broken bodies of animals off our plates and go vegetarian.

Lindsay Rajt is the assistant manager of vegan campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; http://www.GoVeg.com

The pictures show pigs hit in the face with bats, incorrectly stunned and dragged by their ears to slaughter.

The campaign group claims the footage shows widespread breaches of animal welfare law and is demanding the Government takes legal action.

But the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced it will not prosecute Cheale Meats, in Brentwood, because campaigners trespassed to obtain the footage.

One part of the video shows a man punching a pig in the face

Defra lawyers cited two previous cases of animal cruelty which collapsed after similar footage was ruled inadmissible in court.

Sky News has found examples of successful court cases which relied on footage obtained by trespassing campaign groups or activists filming undercover.

In 1998, Steve Gills was convicted of beating elephants with an iron bar after he was secretly filmed at Mary Chipperfield’s Circus.

In 2006, workers at a Bernard Matthews farm in Norfolk were convicted of cruelty after they were caught-on-camera hitting turkeys with metal poles.

But DEFRA said the circumstances surrounding every legal case are different, including how the evidence was obtained, the availability of other evidence, whether there has been an admission of guilt and whether the evidence is challenged.

Here a worker uses a cigarette to burn a pig’s face

The RSPB also claims to have secured more than twenty prosecutions after hiding cameras on private land to catch gamekeepers persecuting birds-of-prey.

Kate Fowler, Animal Aid’s Head of Campaigns, said similar cases covertly filmed by the group were dropped after there was a change of government.

„DEFRA were bringing case after case and one even got to court. Then literally within four weeks of the new Government coming in, all these cases were dropped.“

A DEFRA spokesperson was unavailable for interview but they issued the following statement: „Defra takes the issue of animal welfare very seriously. Where video evidence has been obtained unlawfully through trespass, there is very little prospect of securing a conviction.

„So far as Cheale Meats is concerned, The Food Standards Agency has not referred the case to Defra’s lawyers for a decision on whether a prosecution should be brought.“

Given the source of this material, Elmkirk would not accept that all or any of the activities shown on this video relate to their premises.

Elmkirk’s lawyer

The RSPCA says a solution is for independently monitored CCTV to be installed in abattoirs. RSPCA prosecutor, Sally Case, said: „Not only would CCTV act as a deterrent, it would also provide proper, admissible evidence of any offending.“

It is a move that has the backing of UK supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op.

Sainsbury’s said many of its meat suppliers had already installed CCTV cameras and expected all their abattoirs to be monitored by the end of 2011.

Jamie Foster, solicitor for Elmkirk, said the footage had been obtained unlawfully and his client has had CCTV installed for ten years.

„Given the source of this material, Elmkirk would not accept that all or any of the activities shown on this video relate to their premises.

„A complaint has been made to Essex Police by our clients in relation to any unlawful entry into our client’s premises by an employee of Animal Aid. The outcome of that complaint is awaited.“

The Food Standards Agency says it has revoked the licence of one slaughterman in the footage and increased the level of monitoring at the plant.

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From a Nu-Afrikan perspective, Red For The Blood That We Have Shed In The Freedom Struggle Black Is For Our People & The Origin Of All Things In The Universe Green Is For Mother Afrika & The Rebirth Of Life And For Our Children

From a Nu-Afrikan perspective, Red For The Blood That We Have Shed In The Freedom Struggle Black Is For Our People & The Origin Of All Things In The Universe Green Is For Mother Afrika & The Rebirth Of Life And For Our Children